Robert Schumann: String Quartets Nos. 1–3 & Piano Quintet

Ilya Gringolts completes his survey of the major Schumann chamber works with the 3 string quartets and one of the composer’s masterpieces, the piano quintet op 44.

These four fine players are consistently musical in their approach and there is nothing outlandish or suspect about their interpretations. And therein perhaps lies their weakness, for it’s precisely that degree of risk-taking that makes this music come alive…There is elegance to the new reading, though, which can be persuasive, such as in the variation-form second movement of No. 2. — Gramophone Magazine, January 2012